The significance of career centers in cultivating employability skills through the empowerment of student potential

In the Albanian reality, students are still not familiar with the importance of the career office. It is still considered a new concept, which is already finding space to gain more visibility in educational institutions, but not only there. Nowadays, the capacity to clearly communicate what a graduate brings to the table for employers, framed around skills and illustrated with compelling narratives, plays a crucial role in demonstrating potential employability (Blaquière et al., 2019, p. 15). Over the past 10 years, employers have been more outspoken regarding the importance of employability skills. These skills encompass a range of transferable abilities, including higher-order thinking skills and personal attributes essential to workplace success (Dacre Pool, Sewell, 2007; Lowden et al., 2011). In the realm of employability skills, the issue of skills awareness has garnered significant attention over the past 15 years (Knight, Yorke, 2003; Jiang, Alexakis, 2017). This study reviews employability skills among students and the effectiveness and support that the Excellence and Career Development Branch at the Faculty of Economics, University of Tirana, offers for them. The entire analysis aims to present the services the branch offers and how students who participate in them can explore, develop, and improve their employability skills, and to make it easier for them to enter the labor market by having the right information. This aim was achieved with the participation of six students from different years of the Bachelor's program of the Faculty of Economics, University of Tirana. Employers seek graduates who demonstrate resilience and adaptability, along with the essential skills, attitudes, and beliefs needed to secure a job, excel in their positions, and progress to even more rewarding opportunities in the future (Helyer, Lee, 2012; 2014).